Macroeconomic Implications of Uniform Pricing

Abstract

We compile a new database of grocery prices in Argentina. We find uniform pricing both within and across regions—i.e., prices almost do not vary within the stores of a chain. In line with uniform pricing, prices in stores of chains operating in one region react to changes in regional employment while prices in multiregion chains do not. Using a quantitative regional model with multiregion firms and uniform pricing, we find a one-half smaller elasticity of prices to a regional than an aggregate shock. This result highlights that some caution may be necessary when using regional shocks to estimate aggregate elasticities. (JEL D22, L11, L81, O14, O18, R32)